Auburn, looking for an edge against Kentucky. My, how times have changed.
Daily Archives: October 14, 2015
Today’s trivia question
Which of Georgia’s defensive linemen has recorded the most tackles for loss and sacks so far this season?
Filed under Georgia Football
The OBC, with time on his hands
This comes as no surprise.
How long do you figure it took the WWL to get the man on the phone after his resignation?
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil, The Evil Genius
The “L” word
As I mentioned the other day, it doesn’t seem like Richt has the kids with the mental toughness he needs to keep his team playing with focus when a game starts going south. This might be part of the problem.
The secondary is the starkest example. Dominick Sanders, a sophomore, has already been put in a leadership role in a young secondary, which has already started two true freshmen and two other sophomores.
“We’re working on it,” Sanders said. “It’s not easy, but we all come together in the back end to work together in communication and executing.”
Another transfer, Ganus, is playing inside linebacker, a role that requires on-field leadership. Ganus was fiery at UAB and, as he continues to get comfortable, is trying to bring that to the Bulldogs.
“I tried to just slowly earn people’s respect, and as it went on, spring, summer and fall camp, now I’ve got myself in the role where I’m respected by everyone, and I can call people out, I can pick people up,” Ganus said. “It’s been fun. I’m glad I’m back in that role.”
Throw in a starting quarterback who parachuted into Athens just in time for August practice and it shouldn’t be much of a surprise at how discombobulated Georgia looks at times.
Filed under Georgia Football
Huntley Johnson never sleeps.
Oh, look. Another Gator arrested.
Florida freshman defensive back Deiondre Porter has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest on four felony charges.
Porter, one of the team’s top special teams players, was arrested Wednesday on aggravated assault charges.
The Gators announced his suspension on Twitter, and coach Jim McElwain addressed it on the Southeastern Conference coaches call.
“He’s no longer with the football team,” McElwain said. “He’s suspended indefinitely for obviously a choice. It’s his choice not to be with us. I’m sure you’ll read about it soon enough. It’s one of those things that we don’t obviously condone. Like I said, it was his choice.”
That is some pretty tough language from his coach there. Let’s see how tough things get if Johnson works his usual magic with the Gainesville judicial system.
Filed under Crime and Punishment, Gators Gators
A brief Mizzou scouting report
In case you’re interested, Jake Rowe has a description of some of Missouri’s tendencies for you to check out here – not that, judging from what’s happened in the last two weeks, any of that’s really going to matter if Georgia can’t block and tackle better.
Then there’s this.
It’s pretty tough to nail down Missouri’s tendencies as a defense because its defensive line spends so much time stunting. Down after down the Missouri front four has something cooked up with some sort of slant or stunt to keep the offensive line guessing.
On film, they look like read stunts, meaning that the defensive linemen don’t necessarily know where they are going at the snap. They read the blocks of the offensive linemen and adjust on the fly. It makes them incredibly effective.
Missouri doesn’t blitz a ton. The Tigers would rather rely on a talented front four to pressure the quarterback and keep everything in front in the secondary.
Oh, Greyson. I don’t play, but even my sphincter tightened a little when I read that.
Filed under Georgia Football, SEC Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Well, since you brought it up…
We had another lively discussion yesterday about what kind of faith to put in the ability of Georgia’s administration to find a replacement for Mark Richt one day. There was one comment in particular that I thought deserved a more full-blown response than another comment.
Filed under Georgia Football
“We support all our coaches 100 percent until they’re not our coaches.”
I’m no fan of Junior, but even I thought this was a little cold at the time:
Haden fired Kiffin hours after the game, when the team arrived back in Los Angeles at 3 a.m. Kiffin was called off the team bus that was preparing to head to campus from Los Angeles International Airport and taken to a small room inside the terminal where Haden told Kiffin he was being dismissed.
Yeah, that’ll humble a guy.
But Haden managed to top that with his abrupt firing of Steve Sarkisian.
Yecch.
The amazing thing is that Pat Haden, who hired Sarkisian who hired and fired both of them, not only still has a job, but the confidence of his boss.
That should come as a real comfort to the next guy Haden hires.
Filed under Pac-12 Football
“Ole Miss is lucky to get Laremy Tunsil back at all.”
Quite the laundry list here.
… The list of impermissible benefits Tunsil has received in Oxford is lengthy and more than just the one loaner car which had been previously reported. It was about three of them, over a six-month period without payment. A four-month interest-free promissory note on a $3,000 down payment for purchasing a used vehicle, two nights of lodging at a local home, an airline ticket purchased by a friend of a teammate and one day use of a rental vehicle were also among the impermissible benefits Tunsil has received in Oxford. Tunsil was also apparently less than truthful with the NCAA when first asked about all these things, and the NCAA is a lot like a mother in this regard: lying only makes it worse.
Which begs the question: how is Tunsil back?
Filed under The NCAA
If recruiting is the life blood of a football program, no wonder Georgia’s been a little anemic.
While I’m on a numbers kick this morning, take a look at something AirForceDawg compiled:
— Since 2001 UGA has signed 330 out of 375 prospects to NLIs, or 88% of the NCAA/SEC maximum allowable (thus a self-imposed 12% reduction in recruited scholarship athletes even though never on NCAA probation); quite the opposite of oversigning, regardless, a self-imposed competitive disadvantage
— UGA entered the 2012 season w/ only 68 recruited scholarship players out of the 85 the NCAA permits; since OT Kolton Houston was ineligible that season (Norandolone), UGA only had 67 recruited scholarship players, a self-imposed 21.1% reduction in players due to attrition and failure to sign the maximum allowable 25 scholarship players per year; we could have really used DL depth that year, esp. in the SECCG where Alabama rushed for 350 yds and Abry Jones was out injured
— UGA has lost 140 of its 330 signees prior to graduation for a 42.4% attrition rate
That is, to put it mildly, insane. I keep saying it – if you want to bash Richt for something, his roster management has been a complete joke and the primary reason for the program’s underperformance since its last SEC title.
Admittedly, Richt has finally woken up to reality and changed his approach to recruiting. Better late than never, I suppose.
There are two things to take from it now. One, you don’t snap your fingers and correct literally years of neglect overnight. We are seeing the inevitable results of the fix this season and it’s not pretty.
Two, I think we all know who deserves most of the credit for what’s happening now. How in the hell was Richt not called on the carpet by either Evans or McGarity for his lapse in judgment? Were they so happy to be saving money in the recruiting budget that they didn’t want to ask?
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Get The Picture 
And you guys don’t think I pay attention to you.
Seriously, Arkansas is an interesting comparison in this case. I think most of us are guilty of greater familiarity with our program than with those of our rivals and I’m no exception to that, so take some of what I say with skepticism, if you like. I also suspect that many of you fervently believe that Georgia is a better coaching destination than Arkansas and that it’s not really a close call.
With that in mind, I’d say the one significant advantage Athens holds over Fayetteville is the depth of the recruiting pool available to each. As far as the comparative economics go, it’s a much closer call than many of you might think. Per USA Today’s financial chart, Georgia generates a little more revenue, but Arkansas actually spends a little more money on its athletics. (And there are several SEC programs who generate bigger numbers on both sides of the ledger than either of these two do.) You tell me what that means from a support standpoint.
And I’m not trying to be one here, but any supporter of Georgia’s program making a facilities argument can be shut up with one acronym: IPF.
The last word for me, though, boils down to someone we generally loathe, Bobby Petrino. His shortcomings as a human being are only exceeded by his skill as a football coach, which is why he keeps getting jobs. But here’s the thing – when he soured on the Falcons, he obviously leaked word quietly that he wanted out and was on the market. Jeff Long snapped him up before the rest of the world knew what was happening. Can anybody seriously imagine Greg McGarity moving as quickly to capitalize on an opportunity to sign a rock star coach, or, even if he was so prepared to act, that his higher-ups would let him go at warp speed? Does that sound like the Georgia Way to you?